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A reception in honor of graduates from military higher education institutions run by the Defense Ministry, Interior Ministry, Emergency Situations Ministry, Federal Security Service, Federal Penitentiary Service, Federal Guard Service and Federal National Guard Service was held at the Grand Kremlin Palace.

Russian President Vladimir Putin with military academy graduates at a reception in their honor.

Over 700 officers who graduated with distinction and a gold medal have been invited to attend the reception at the Kremlin, along with lecturers and academy heads.

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Speech at reception in honor of graduates of military academies and universities.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin:

Comrade officers, friends,

In keeping with the tradition, we are here today in the Kremlin to honor the best graduates of military academies, institutes and universities. I congratulate you on successfully completing your studies and entering a new stage in your career.

You have excelled during complex graduation tests in military subjects, showing the ability to use cutting-edge equipment and weapons. I strongly believe that you will use the acquired knowledge and skills by serving in the Army and Navy, law enforcement agencies and secret services, guarding Russia’s security and standing up for its national interests.

I would like to convey my warmest congratulations to those who taught you and all who ensure continuity in Russia’s military education, who helped you and your comrades master the challenging “science of victory.”

Vladimir Putin at a reception in honor of graduates of military academies.

It is symbolic that we meet in the historic halls of the Moscow Kremlin that are filled with the spirit of Russia’s feats of arms of the past. During the Poltava and Borodino battles, on the battlefields of the First World War and the Great Patriotic War, our military commanders, officers and soldiers have won immortal glory by their military skills, as well as moral: courage, honor and dignity.

We are proud of the feats of our remarkable ancestors who did not spare their life to preserve what mattered the most for them – the freedom and independence of their Motherland.

I am confident that you will be their worthy successors by protecting Russia and its people with honor and dedication.

Comrade officers,

The complex international situation, the growing number of regional crises and conflicts, terrorist and other threats demand constant enhancement of our country’s military organization.

Only modern, powerful, and mobile armed forces can guarantee our country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and protect us and our allies from any potential aggressor and from pressure and blackmail from those who do not want to see a strong, independent and sovereign Russia.

Over these last years, we have strengthened substantially our armed forces and officer corps’ professionalism has grown. This was demonstrated convincingly by our antiterrorist operations in Syria.

We will continue to further build the military capability of our Army and Navy on the basis of our long-term plans and programs, ensure balanced, systemic work to develop all branches and forces, and increase quality and frequency of military exercises.

I am sure that you will be at the vanguard of this complex and highly responsible work, and, as commanders at the different levels, you will make maximum effort to ensure effective training of service personnel. It is your direct duty to make military professionals out of your subordinates and teach them to become true patriots and competent, responsible specialists. Of course, you must also set an example in all areas, be a moral authority for the service personnel under your command, and preserve the honor of your uniform and the high status of Russian officer.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Comrade officers,

The law enforcement agencies and security services have important tasks before them today, chief of which are countering terrorism and extremism and fighting crime and corruption. As before, these tasks require professionalism, operational skill, and competent use of the latest technology.

You must work consistently to improve key performance indicators in your work. It is important to ensure that each crime is solved, that the guilty are brought to justice and receive lawful punishment. This is what the public wants to see from you and you must live up to their expectations.

For our part, we will continue to pay attention to strengthening social guarantees for military service personnel and personnel at law enforcement agencies and security and intelligence services. We will continue to ensure decent wages, provide permanent and service housing, and raise the quality of medical care for service personnel and their family members.

President Putin at a reception in honor of graduates of military academies.

Friends,

We still have much to do to strengthen all of our different security services and armed forces. I hope that you will execute these tasks flawlessly and service Russia with honesty and devotion.

Once again, I congratulate you on your graduation.

I wish you good health and success, and happiness for you and your families.

I propose a toast to Russia’s officers, to the continuation of our Armed Forces’ victorious traditions, and to our great Motherland!

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At a reception in honor of graduates of military academies.

Russian President at a reception in honor of graduates of military academies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Vladimir Putin with military academy graduates at a reception in their honor.

Vladimir Putin chaired a meeting of the Moscow State University (MGU) Board of Trustees.

On the agenda were the interim results of the programme for developing MGU through to 2020 and progress in developing the Vorobyovy Gory science and technology cluster.

Other items on the agenda included developing fundamental science and the higher education system within the National Science and Technology Development Strategy, and measures to improve training of specialists and facilitate their employment in Russian companies.

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Excerpts from transcript of Moscow State University Board of Trustees meeting.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin:

Good afternoon, colleagues,

We are holding this latest meeting of the Moscow State University Board of Trustees on the day of the university’s founding, which, as you know, has become by tradition a date celebrated by Russia’s students as their holiday. Let me therefore congratulate all of Moscow State University students and faculty and actually, all students and faculty around the country. I congratulate you on this occasion and wish you all the very best.

I would like to thank the Board members for their active participation in the university’s life. I suggest that today we discuss some of the decisions that will enable the university to continue playing a determining part in shaping Russia’s intellectual and technological potential.

The university has always been proud of its graduates, and justifiably so. They make unique scientific discoveries, achieve success in business and civil service, carry out important social, cultural and educational projects and bring glory to the country and to their alma mater.

If we judge the university by the results and achievements of its graduates, Moscow State University counts deservedly among the world leaders. This raises MGU’s prestige and influence both at home and abroad.

Our universities, including MGU, have made significant advances in different ratings in a number of areas. At the same time, we have said before that piecemeal success is not enough. We need to set more ambitious goals and join the ranks of the world leaders, above all in training top-class specialists and in contributing to the development of new breakthroughs and of science in general.

It is also our responsibility before the young generation to reach this ambitious and absolutely vital objective. We have many talented young people who seek a high-quality and competitive education and want to take part in promising research, projects and developments of the highest level, right from their student days.

Ever since the days of Mikhail Lomonosov, Moscow State University has always attracted the most talented and driven young people from all around Russia. Last year, 371 winners and runners-up of national Olympiads and 9 winners and runners-up of international Olympiads were accepted to MGU. Young people who have shown particular talent in technical and humanitarian fields study at the university and have received special grants of 20,000 rubles a month. We will continue to support talented children from throughout the country.

[Rector of MGU] Mr. Sadovnichy said that the university school has started work and its students have already gone to the Sirius Centre in Sochi, where they attended lectures by scientists, business representatives and other prominent and interesting people who have achieved exceptional results in their fields of activity.

I draw to the Board members’ attention that we must ensure the required conditions not only for study but also for subsequent employment of these gifted young people in the state agencies and in Russian companies. They should have an interest in working here for the benefit of our economy and our country’s development.

I ask you too to reflect on further measures we can take to support student teams already working on promising new developments in the sectors of greatest priority for the country. This could include measures to integrate their projects with the activities of the world-class laboratories that have also been established at MGU through the so-called mega-grants programme.

Let me note in particular that many of these laboratories are headed by compatriots who had been working abroad. More of them are coming home now and working here, and this includes Moscow State University graduates.

Colleagues,

We adopted the National Science and Technology Development Strategy at the end of last year. Its implementation will enable us to make our country more globally competitive and respond to the serious ‘big challenges’ that practically all countries face today.

In this respect, I think that we should review once again the development programmes for our leading universities, including Moscow State University. The idea here is to establish and develop so-called technological valleys. You know that Moscow State University is examining just such a project. I want to ask Mr Viktor Sadovnichy to tell us how this work is going and update us on Moscow State University’s development plans in general.

Let’s begin our work. Please, you have the floor.

Rector of Moscow State University Viktor Sadovnichy:

Mr. President, thank you for these congratulations and for these warm words about the university.

Colleagues,

Yes, today is our birthday, Moscow State University’s biggest holiday, the day marking its founding. Your executive order in 2005 gave this date official status as Russian Students’ Day. We are deeply grateful to you for the constant attention you give to developing science and education in Russia, to MGU’s life, and to the decision to hold a meeting of the Board of Trustees at the university today.

We will look today at Moscow State University’s development. I would like to speak in brief about what we have accomplished since the last Board of Trustees meeting took place just over a year ago, and tell you about our plans for the future.

Since 2010, we have been working on implementing the development plan that you, Mr President, approved. Budget funding for the development programme from 2010 through to 2019 comes to around 11 billion rubles. MGU’s contribution through various means to this programme comes to around 50 billion rubles. The programme continues with success and I will now brief the Board of Trustees on the results.

Our main task is to teach. As you know, Moscow State University works according to its own independently set educational standards. These are unique standards that exist only in our university. We have set a six-year study programme or so-called integrated Masters course, for a number of disciplines. In other words, the course involves four years at the undergraduate degree level and then a two-year Masters programme in the same field, mathematics, physics or biology say, thus making a six-year programme overall. Such was our choice.

We had 10,000 graduates in 2015, and more than 7,000 in 2016. As was said, they are good specialists in their fields. We have taken responsibility for the six-year study programme experiment and have added to student living allowances from our own funds to cover the sixth year of study, and we are sure that study programmes of this length are what are needed to develop a modern knowledge economy in a modern country.

Good students become good specialists, and good school pupils become good students. The university’s affiliated boarding school, the Kolmogorov Boarding School, has been running for more than 50 years now. Its graduates count 8,000 doctorate holders – one in four graduates has a doctorate. The school also counts more than 800 holders of post-doctoral degrees, five academicians, and prominent members of the business community among the ranks of its graduates.

Mr. President, as we discussed earlier, we opened another school on a new site here on September 1. The school has 6 buildings and unique infrastructure, and talented children from around the country are studying there now. We held several selection stages. During the final stage, they went through a preparatory course at the Sirius Educational Centre. We are sure that this new university-affiliated school will soon become the school of the future.

The high level of our graduates has received recognition here and abroad. According to the Russian Education federal website, MGU is in first place in terms of the number of its graduates on the boards of Russia’s biggest companies. We are in first place too among universities as the ‘forge of oligarchs’. We are not a university specialised in the technical fields, but even so, we are in second place in terms of demand for technical specialists trained by us. A recently published global rating that ranked universities in terms of their graduates’ employment put us in third place, after Stanford and Oxford, in terms of graduates’ success around the world.

And a couple of words about ratings. This is a sensitive issue for Moscow State University and for other Russian universities, as you know. The well-known international ratings are shaped to the Anglo-Saxon model and give our universities rankings that, in our opinion, do not reflect the reality. You gave the instruction to develop an objective, international rating system that would reflect universities’ work objectively. Moscow State University is heading this work. We have created the Moscow international rating Three Missions of the University, and it is now at work and collecting information. We held talks with universities in China, India, Iran, Turkey and Japan, and they have given their support. We will publish the rating’s first results this September, Mr President, acting on your instruction.

As the country’s leading university, Moscow State University also has an important international mission to perform. I will say a few words about this. We have already opened five branches in the CIS capitals (Astana, Baku, Tashkent, Dushanbe and Yerevan, where 3,000 students are studying. These universities were opened at the request of these countries’ governments). In just a few days, we will add a branch in Slovenia, a NATO member country. I know that the Slovenian President’s visit is on the programme, and he will put this question of opening a branch of MGU in Slovenia.

Russian is the language of teaching at these branches. This is another step forward in the educational space. We want to spread our culture and language.

MGU and Beijing Polytechnic recently established a joint university. It has already received a licence to conduct educational activity. The main building’s cornerstone has been laid. They want to build a copy of the Moscow State University building and have already begun construction. They plan to complete construction by 2018, and the university will then take 5,000 students a year. This is a joint university, but, starting this September, we plan to begin classes for several groups in a temporary building. We have an interesting letter that the Russian Consulate in Guangzhou has received, speaking of the growing interest among various sections of the population in China in eventually studying at this joint university.

Finally, Moscow State University has 10 Lomonosov centres in different countries. These centres are engaged in spreading Russian language and culture. The branches and the centres are all part of this work. We see this as the kind of ‘soft power’ that works to bolster our country’s image.

I must mention too our excellent branch in Sevastopol. It was established in 1999. Back then, I indicated from on board the Moskva cruiser a part of the branch that had just opened, Mr. President. There were difficulties in branch’s work in the past, but now it is one of the best universities in southern Russia with a very good infrastructure. They currently have 700 students from Crimea, Sevastopol and other Russian regions. One of the teachers has the highest h-index [Hirsch index ranking for citation of publications] in Crimea and Sevastopol. In other words, they have good teachers there.

The recent meeting of the Presidential Council for Science and Education noted that our priority should be to ensure leadership in chosen fields and not take an approach that depends on importing technology. We try to direct our research at Moscow State University in these priority directions.

I will start with information technology, a very important field today, as it determines a country’s level of development and influence. A supercomputer race is underway in the world and we cannot stand on the sidelines. Our Lomonosov supercomputer is the most powerful in Russia and has a good place in the world in general. It has a speed of three petaflops today, and we plan to bring its power up to five petaflops over the next few months. Supercomputing is becoming essential now for all high-tech tasks. Work with Big Data is becoming ever more important.

Let me give two examples. First, information technology is essential for ensuring computer security and protecting data transfer. This uses what are called hash functions, the electronic equivalent to fingerprints, and you need to check how reliable this protection is. Our young teachers and students, using the Lomonosov supercomputer, recently set a world record for compromising the most complicated hash function. They have all stayed here and will work in Russia.

The second example. The recently approved National Science and Technology Development Strategy focuses on overcoming global challenges. Use of information technology and development of the digital economy are among these challenges. At MGU, we are establishing a national digital economy competence centre for research and training. A good foundation has already been laid by joint work with the Russian Academy of Sciences’ IT and Management Federal Research Centre, under Academician Igor Sokolov, other research organisations in the real sector of the economy, and the state agencies.

We plan to use our supercomputer to go a step further and set up an experimental segment using Russian-made Baikal processors, in order to have our defence and civilian industries move to using Russian supercomputer technology and software, and most importantly, train specialists. Leading Russian company T Platforms is developing the components base, and a number of ministries are already using these developments. Our proposals in this area have received the President’s support. We received the instruction to start this work with the Industry and Trade Ministry, and we have done so.

In the field of space research, we are probably the only university in Russia and in the world to launch so many satellites. Over the 60 years of space exploration, we have placed instruments on 400 satellites designed by scientists and postgraduates at Moscow State University. We have six satellites – a whole fleet – to our name. I spoke about our preparations to launch the Lomonosov heavy satellite, made by Moscow State University, at the last meeting. Our Lomonosov satellite was the first satellite launched from the Vostochny Space Launch Centre in April 2016. We remember this launch, Mr President, and your decision at the site to have the satellite launched the following morning. Of course, we want to thank you for that decision.

This satellite carries what is an ambitious scientific programme for the university. We have registered powerful ultraviolet flashes, discovered more than 10 space gamma-ray bursts, and register potentially dangerous natural and manmade objects. In general, the information obtained (it is still coming in from orbit) makes this satellite the most successful recent space project.

Another of our successes in the space field. Gravitational waves were recently recorded for the first time in what was a very important scientific breakthrough in the world. They were generated by the merger of two black holes with a mass of 29 and 36 times the mass of the sun. This happened 1.3 billion light years away, but the signal has reached us now. Physicists from Moscow State University, the Braginsky group, played a big part in this. MGU’s robotic telescope is carrying out the most extensive and rapid search for the source of these two black holes’ merger.

We proposed a new space project: Create a satellite group to monitor in real time the radiation situation, and potentially dangerous natural and manmade objects, space junk, asteroids, meteorites and so on in the near space. Mr President, you gave the instruction to carry out this project together with Roscosmos, and this is what we are doing.

Moscow State University decided recently to open its 43rd faculty, the faculty of space studies. It will train specialists in important fields related to outer space, such as space medicine, biology, training cosmonauts for spaceflight and their behaviour in weightlessness, study of various not yet explained phenomena in space, information technology, and development of new instruments, of course. This faculty’s scientific director will be twice Hero of Russia, pilot and cosmonaut Vladimir Solovyev. Classes at this new space studies faculty will begin this year.

Of course, one of the top priorities for every country is the science of life. This field is developing intensively at the university, in particular, at the Faculty of Fundamental Medicine at the Medical Research and Education Centre. And we want to report that our medical centre is operating well: in under a year, 1,030 patients underwent treatment there and over 500 complex surgeries were carried out. Recently, the Institute of Regenerative Medicine opened at the medical centre. This is a unique institute in Russia. At 400 square metres, it is the largest laboratory in Russia and Europe, meeting the highest standards of cleanliness. Cellular therapies and pharmaceuticals will be studied here. The Healthcare Ministry recognised both the faculty and the centre as the flagship for training staff in the field of regenerative medicine.

In this regard, I would like to report that we will create a national anti-doping lab, under the President’s instruction. This provides us with new opportunities, including with respect to scientific research. This lab will become an organic part of our medical centre and faculty, and will be involved not only in analysis but also in research. We are ready and are implementing this presidential instruction and have already established this anti-doping lab. But we propose to house it at Moscow State University. Here we have a very good building and have already developed a project to renovate it. But we would like to ask you to include us in the federal targeted investment programme, so that we will be able to renovate this building as soon as possible and get the lab fully running according to the agreement with WADA.

Of course, this project is very prestigious and it will meet world standards, according to which anti-doping labs are located at independent institutions, like the Moscow State University. We would just like to include our project in the investment programme to renovate the building more quickly.

I would also like to point out that the effectiveness of science today is evaluated on the basis of publications, but we do not always agree that this alone determines a scientist’s standing. We believe that our Russian journals should be included in the lists that are cited by other databases. However, in the present situation, Moscow [State] University has very high citation indices. Moscow State University’s citation indices are double the Russian and international levels in terms of the share of frequently cited articles. We are double the world level. This means that we do not conduct routine research but are on the cutting edge of science and working on breakthrough subjects.

Finally, I would like to bring up a very important matter (Mr. President has already raised it). We continue to develop new territory. This refers to our scientific-technological valley. We have already built about 1 million square metres of new space in the new territory and during these 10–12 years we have doubled our campus [area]. Previously, 1 million [square metres] were built. We have doubled that. Members of the supervisory board have corresponding materials, photos of training facilities, labs and buildings. We have done a lot of work on the concept of our further territorial development. Seven main areas or clusters were identified. They correspond to scientific development clusters in Russia. This concept was approved by the academic council. It calls for the development of the country’s priority areas in science and technology. New-generation training and research facilities, labs, dormitories, sports facilities and other infrastructure will be built. The project has been finalised.

I would like to cite Nobel Laureate Michael Spence. He said: We will drastically change the situation if we invest in infrastructure, in making the education system more effective. We are in sync with the expert’s remarks.

The territorial development plan was supported at a public hearing by district residents, city residents and the Moscow city government. Interdisciplinary scientific-technological groups can work on this territory, a system of effective commercialisation of research and development projects will be created, and Moscow State University’s extrabudgetary financing sources will be expanded and diversified. Generally, the project’s implementation will strengthen Moscow State University’s positions and it will, without a doubt, be one of the world’s leading universities with powerful infrastructure. Incidentally, this is the only development opportunity for the university in the foreseeable future. There is no other opportunity.

We talked about our scientific technological valley project in detail at our previous meeting. Now is the time to start working on it. I have presented Moscow State University’s proposals, Mr President, and we are ready to carry it out. I hope that we will report the first results of our efforts to develop the territory and implement the project in the near future.

I consider it important to express our gratitude to all those who have provided and continue to provide substantial support and assistance to Moscow University.

Trusteeship is the university’s historical tradition. When the university was founded, Prokopy, Grigory and Nikita Demidov donated 21,000 [rubles], which was more than the student support budget provided at the time by the monarch. And then they also donated a mineralogy laboratory to the university. Generally, the charity tradition has never stopped, and members of the Board of Trustees continue this tradition. On behalf of the university’s entire staff, I would like to express our gratitude to all those who provide substantial aid and support.

I cannot name them all – there is simply no time for that, but I thank all those who have taken the initiative to establish corporate departments at Moscow University to train personnel for their corporations: Mikhail Gutseriyev, Vladimir Yevtushenkov and Oleg Deripaska. I would particularly like to thank Igor Sechin for his constant assistance, as well as Nikolai Tokarev, Sergei Chemezov, Grigory Berezkin, Oleg Grigor and of course, Sergei Sobyanin. I am certainly grateful to all the Board of Trustees members for supporting the university’s development.

A few words about another gift. Nearby is a gallery of Russian landscapes: 300 original paintings by Levitan, Vasnetsov and Shishkin. At the previous meeting I already thanked supervisory board member Sergei Bednov for handing over these paintings. However, recently, Vladislav Malkevich, former president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and prior to that a deputy to Nikolai Patolichev [USSR foreign trade minister] and general director of Expocentre, who assembled the collection, presented another 30 original paintings. Now I believe this collection has no equals in the world. It is on display here, on the seventh floor.

In 2006, another historical treasure was transferred to Moscow University: the personal archive (100,000 sheets) and library (630 publications) of Ivan Ilyin, a well-known philosopher and Moscow University alumnus. For over 40 years that library had been stored at Michigan State University, USA. Recently, it was given to Moscow University following the discovery of the philosopher’s last will and testament. We accepted the gift. Ivan Ilyin left his motherland in 1922. He became a prominent philosopher and remained a patriot of Russia and Moscow University.

Vladimir Putin met with participants in the Forum of Student and Youth Organization Leaders on Russian Students’ Day.

The forum, organized by the Moscow State University Students’ Union, the Russian Union of Student Organizations, and international youth organization Eurasian Community, has been taking place at Moscow State University since 2006. This year, the forum has brought together more than 120 representatives of student and youth organizations from 28 Russian universities.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin:

Good afternoon. I want to greet you all and offer my warmest congratulations on Russian Students’ Day, congratulating all Russian students through you, and all postgraduates and faculty at your universities, especially at Moscow State University, of course, which is hosting our today’s meeting.

I hope very much that your student years will be a happy and successful time, that you will complete your study programs and will work with interest and pleasure for the good of our country, for Russia’s benefit. Happy holiday! I wish you all the very best.

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Vladimir Putin with Moscow State University Rector Viktor Sadovnichy.

President's meeting with participants in the Forum of Student and Youth Organization Leaders.